1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods for deflecting the course of moving plasmas.
2. Background Art
Plasma streams are useful in a number of areas. For example, plasma can be inserted into transmission lines to beneficial effect. However, if such insertion is done by a plasma gun, high power pulses traveling down the line can damage the plasma gun.
It is useful to be able to redirect the course of a plasma at some desired angle. For example, such redirection is useful to insert plasma into a transmission line with lowered risk to the source of the plasma. Devices within which plasma containment, but not redirection, occurs include those disclosed in Limpaecher, et al., "Magnetic Multipole Containment of Large Uniform Collisionless Quiescent Plasmas", Rev. Sci. Instrum. 44:6, 726-31 (June 1973), and Crow, et al., "High Performance, Low Energy Ion Source", IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science PS-6:4, 535-38 (December 1978). These devices describe plasma confinement devices in which the plasmas are stationary. The plasma boundaries would move outward by diffusion if the confining magnetic walls were not there, and the center of the mass is stationary, not moving. The present invention provides an apparatus and method for redirecting moving plasmas.